District education officers complete OLPC training

Education officers and inspectors from the country’s 30 districts yesterday completed a two-day workshop in Kigali, aimed at reviewing the Rwanda One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) programme as well as receive training on new technologies installed in schools to support the programme. According to a statement, the officials discussed the target of reaching at least 1,000 schools by the end of next year and the plan to cover all primary schools in the country by 2017. Currently, 410 schools have got the laptops. Nkubito Bakuramutsa, the programme coordinator, said the workshop aimed at sharpening the minds of the DEOs who are in charge of education in the country. “They are closer to the schools implementing the programme,” he said. “The DEOs trained in how the laptops work, how they can be used to teach, and how they can be used at teaching aides,” the statement reads in part. Also in attendance were regional education inspectors in charge of monitoring all education programmes around the country. “Having all these officials helped us collectively discuss best ways of supporting schools,” Bakuramutsa said. Bakuramutsa said the project had reached a point of maturity where all sectors in each district have at least a school with the OLPC laptops. “At least 250,000 students have laptops. We want to keep the momentum,” he said. The main objective of the OLPC is to create technology driven society by transforming the learning process. “With DEOs and inspectors of schools on board, we are sure this transformation will be successful,” Bakuramutsa added. Participants were to be equipped with the knowledge of identifying challenges in their respective areas and how they can be addressed. Meanwhile, some of the challenges that were highlighted include the poor mindset among educators and infrastructure bottlenecks in some schools. Most teachers are used to the chalk board and there is need to equip them with computer skills so that they are able to use the devices as tools for teaching, officials say. “We want to have teachers who can use multimedia and other soft resources as tools to improve their teaching,” Bakuramutsa said. He said government is investing in infrastructure to support the programme, adding that 200 schools have already been equipped with a school server, digital library, school local area network, and electricity.

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District education officers complete OLPC training